letter from America
One of the challenges of writing this “Letter from America” is the sheer scale of America, and in particular American Evangelicalism. It is hard to “take the temperature” of what is going on at any particular moment when, in truth, there are many different things going on.
Of course, the art is to simplify without falsehood, depict without distorting. But shall we talk of some of the conversations within the Southern Baptist Convention, or the Presbyterian Church of America, or The Gospel Coalition, or the collection of Christian Universities and Schools? Shall we survey the current state of (broadly speaking) reformed evangelicalism, progressive evangelicalism, dispensational evangelicalism? Or, instead, shall we take the tack of looking at the reputation of evangelicalism as it is being perceived?
That latter approach is the one that I shall take in this column this time. Without adding to the pain that the reporting of these various scandals, disturbances, and conflicts have caused by being reported in other venues that the reader can easily find with a quick Google search (or employing the dubious joys of ChatGPT), there have once again been a number of such controversies in the news. What to make of them?
When there was first a rush of such problems some years back I explained them as revealing not the difference between scale and smallness – as they were at the time preponderantly analysed. That is, we were not observing the problems of “megachurch” Christianity, nor the problems of “celebrity” Christianity. Whatever the merits, or otherwise, of such trends, the best way to analyse the scandals of five or so years ago was, it seemed to me, the much greater ease with which we now have to discover and disseminate information. The truth is indeed nowadays being shouted from the housetops, or at least a version of the truth is being broadcast through social media. And the reason, or so I thought, that scandalous events appeared to cluster around famous ministries is not because they were large but because, well, they were famous. I suspected that there were about as many scandals occurring in evangelicalism, at every level (big and small), as ever – the scandals in famous ministries were more well known because those ministries were, to begin with, more well known.
I still think there is something in that assessment. We live in an age where a failing of 30 years ago can suddenly be on everyone’s lips and in everyone’s minds through the investigations of one enterprising journalist. And such journalists will gravitate to the prominent, which will generate the clicks on their articles and watches on their YouTube interviews.
I wonder, though, with this latest round of controversies, whether there is another factor that I had not previously considered. Are we observing the impact of our age of information not being an age of wisdom? That is, are we seeing a fairly remarkable lack of discernment? If so, the solution (as James would remind us) is to ask God for wisdom. To root such wisdom (as Proverbs would tell us) in the fear of God. And, as long experience appears to testify, seek to disciple and be discipled over the long haul.
It’s much easier (not easy, but easier) to develop preachers who can explain a text, than it is to develop preachers who have wisdom, who not only know the truth but live it too, and can apply the accumulated wisdom of God, the store of wisdom in the Bible, to the complexities of the very odd world around us today. But however difficult it may be, we certainly all need more of it: discernment.
